The crusades were a
barbaric attack on the Middle Eastern Muslim population, living in
peace.

Although the crusaders are commonly thought
to have been motivated by their deep Christian faith, crusades were
actually wars inspired by avarice. At a time of utmost poverty and misery
prevalent in the West, the attractions of the East -- in particular, the
Muslim societies' wealth and prosperity -- played on the minds of Europeans,
especially those in the Church. These attractions, bolstered with
Christian teachings, begot the crusaders' mindset, seemingly motivated by
religion but actually motivated by worldly designs. This is the reason why
Christians, who had followed more or less peaceful policies in the
previous 1,000 years, suddenly began to display an appetite for
war -- specifically, the "liberation" of the holy city of Jerusalem and
Palestine as a whole.

We can retrace the beginnings of the
crusades to November 1095, when Pope Urban II gathered the Council of
Clermont. Three hundred members of the clergy convened under his
chairmanship. The pacifist doctrines that had dominated Christendom were
abandoned, laying the foundations for the conquest. At the close of the
Council, Urban II announced this state of affairs in his famous speech to
a congregation that comprised all social classes, demanding that
Christians stop the infighting and warring among themselves. The Pope
called on them -- whether rich or poor, aristocrat or peasant -- to unite under
one banner and to free the holy land from the Muslims. To him, this was "a
holy war."

Historians describe Urban II as a good
orator. He intended to incite the Christians against Muslim Turks and
Arabs, and succeeded by alleging that the Muslim were assaulting pilgrims
and that Christianity's sacred places were being desecrated. [1]
Of course, none of this was true.

As historians have confirmed, the Muslims
were very tolerant towards Christians and Jews, whom they permitted to
pray and worship. All minorities co-existing in the Holy Land benefited
equally from this atmosphere of tranquility, created by the moral code of
Islam. But because means of communication at the time were terribly
primitive compared to today's, medieval Europeans weren't aware of this.
Owing allegiance to the Vatican in Rome and conducting services in Latin,
they knew little about the Eastern Orthodox Church or the Greek-speaking
Byzantium, and even less about Islam.

Since what the common people did know
amounted to nothing more than hearsay, the Pope found it easy to excite
their emotions. Urban II went on to proclaim as an encouragement that for
those who participated in the crusade, all sins would be forgiven. The
exuberant crowd was distributed fabric crosses to emblazon their garments,
and they dispersed to spread the word of the "holy war."

The overwhelming response to this call made
history. In a very short period of time, a massive "crusaders' army" was
assembled, consisting of not only professional warriors, but also ten
thousands of ordinary people.

Some historians suggest that the
impoverished kings of Christendom, eager to exploit the fabled riches of
the East, pressured the Pope to call a "holy war." Others find an
altogether different motive for Pope Urban II, suggesting that he wished
to gain power and prestige for himself at the expense of a rival claiming
to be pope. But in reality, all the various kings, princes, aristocrats
and others who obliged this call did so for worldly purposes. As Donald Queller of the University of Illinois put it, "the French knights wanted
more land. Italian merchants hoped to expand trade in Middle Eastern
ports. . . Large numbers of poor people joined the expeditions simply to
escape the hardships of their normal lives." [2]

On the way, greedy hordes murdered countless
Muslims and Jews in the hope of finding gold and jewels. Among crusaders,
it was common practice to disembowel their victims in the hopes that they
might have swallowed their gold and jewels to hide them. In the Fourth
Crusade, their avarice reached the point where they looted Christian
Constantinople, scratching gold leaf off the frescos in the Cathedral of
Hagia Sophia.

Barbarism of
the Crusaders

A 16th-century crusader

In the summer of 1096, this mob of
self-appointed crusaders set off in three separate groups, each taking a
different route to Constantinople, where they met up with one another. The
Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I, did what he could to aid this force,
comprising 4,000 mounted knights and 25,000 infantry troops.3
Raymond IV of Saint-Gilles, Count of Toulouse; Bohemond, Duke of Taranto;
Godfrey of Bouillon; Hugh, Count of Vermandois; and Robert, Duke of Normandy
commanded this army. Bishop Adhemar of le Puy, the close friend of Urban
II, was their spiritual leader. [4]

After ransacking and setting fire to many
settlements and putting countless Muslims to the sword, eventually the
crusaders reached Jerusalem in 1099. After a siege of approximately five
weeks, the city fell. When the victors finally entered Jerusalem,
according to one historian, "They killed all the Saracens and the Turks
they found ... whether male of female." [5]

Crusaders slaughtered everyone they met and
looted everything they could get their hands on. They murdered
indiscriminately those who had taken refuge in the mosques, whether young
or old, and devastated the Muslim and Jewish holy sites and places of
worship setting the city's synagogues aflame, burning alive Jews who had
hidden inside. This slaughter continued until no longer could they find
anyone to kill. [6]

One of the
crusaders, Raymond of Aguiles, boasts of this incredible cruelty:

Wonderful sights were to be seen. Some of our men (and this
was more merciful) cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them
with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them
longer by casting them into flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to
be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one's way
over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared
to what happened at the Temple of Solomon, a place where religious
services are normally chanted ... in the temple and the porch of
Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. [7]

An
engraving depicting the crusaders' occupation of Jerusalem

A
Medieval Age drawing of Templars in Jerusalem

In The Monks of War, researcher
Desmond Seward narrates the events of these tragic days:

Jerusalem was stormed in July 1099. The
rabid ferocity of its sack showed just how little the Church had succeeded
in Christianising atavistic instincts. The entire population of the Holy
City was put to the sword, Jews as well as Moslems, 70,000 men, women and
children perished in a holocaust, which raged for three days. In places
men waded in blood up to their ankles and horsemen were splashed by it as
they rode through the streets. [8]

According to another historical source, the
number of Muslims pitilessly slaughtered was 40,000. [9]
Whatever the actual number of the dead, what the crusaders committed in
the Holy Land has gone down in history as an example of matchless
barbarism.

The first crusade ended with the fall of
Jerusalem in 1099. After 460 years of Muslim rule, the Holy Land came
under Christian control. The crusaders established a Latin kingdom that
stretched from Palestine to Antioch and made Jerusalem its capital city.

Thereafter, the crusaders began struggling
to establish themselves in the Middle East. But to sustain the state they
had founded, they needed to organize themselves -- and to achieve his, they
established unprecedented military orders. Members of these orders had
emigrated from Europe and, in Palestine, lived a monastic life of sorts.
At the same time, they trained for war against the Muslims. One of these
orders went down a different route, undergoing a change that would
significantly alter the course of history in Europe and -- eventually -- the
world: the Knights Templar.

Founding of
the Knights Templar

14th-century drawing
of the Temple of Solomon

About 20 years after the conquest of
Jerusalem and the creation of a Latin Empire, the Templars first appeared
on the scene of history. Otherwise known as Templars or Knights Templar,
the order's full and proper name was Pauperes commilitones Christi
Templique Salomonis, or "Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of
Solomon." (A major part of the information we have today on the Templars
was recorded by the 12th century historian Guillaume of Tyre.) The order
was founded in 1118 by nine knights: Hugues de Payens, Geoffrey de St.
Omer, Rossal, Gondamer, Geoffrey Bisol, Payen de Montdidier, Archambaud de
St. Agnat, Andre de Montbard, and the Hugh Conte de Champagne.

Thus was quietly born one of the most
talked-about, effective and powerful organizations of Medieval Europe.
These nine knights presented themselves to Baldwin II, the Emperor of
Jerusalem, asking him to assign them the responsibility of protecting the
lives and property of the many Christian pilgrims now flocking to
Jerusalem from all over Europe. The Emperor knew Hugues de Payens, the
first Grand Master of the order, well enough to grant the nine their
request. Accordingly, the district where Solomon's Temple once stood (and
by then, included the site of the al-Aqsa Mosque, which survives to this
day), was allocated to the order of the Templars, giving the order its
name.

The Temple Mount thus remained the order's headquarters for the next 70
years until, following the battle of Hattin, the great Islamic commander
Saladin reconquered Jerusalem for the Muslims.

The Templars had established themselves
there by choice, because the site of the Temple represented the earthly
power of the Prophet Solomon; and the remnants of the temple contained big
secrets. Protecting the Holy Land and the Christian pilgrims was the
official reason the nine founders gave for joining forces and for creating
the order in the first place. But the true reason behind it all was
altogether different.

The Order's
Mission

At the time, there were a number of other orders of warrior
monks in Jerusalem, but all acting according to their charters. Besides
training as soldiers, the Knights of St. John -- a large organization also
known as the Knights Hospitalers -- took care of the sick and the poor and
were performing other good deeds in the Holy Land. The Templars, however,
had taken it upon themselves to protect the lands between Haifa and
Jerusalem -- a physical impossibility for the nine knights to shoulder all by
themselves. Even then, it was now obvious that they sought political as
well as economic gains, quite aside from performing works of charity.

The famous Grand
Master Albert Pike, with his book titled Morals and Dogma

In Morals And Dogma, one of
Freemasonry's most popular books, Grand Master Albert Pike (1809-1891)
reveals the Templars' true purpose:

In 1118, nine Knights Crusaders in the East,
among whom were Geoffroi de Saint-Omer and Hughes de Payens, consecrated
themselves to religion, and took an oath between the hands of the
Patriarch of Constantinople, a See always secretly or openly hostile to
that of Rome from the time of Photius. The avowed object of the Templars
was to protect the Christians who came to visit the Holy Places: their
secret object was the rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon on the model
prophesied by Ezekiel ... [10]

The Knights Templar, he continued, were from
the very beginning "devoted to ... opposition to the tiara of Rome and
the crown of its Chiefs ..." The object of the Templars, he said, was to
acquire influence and wealth, then to "intrigue and at need fight to
establish the Johannite or Gnostic and Kabbalistic dogma ..."

Adding to the information that Pike
provides, the English authors of The Hiram Key, Christopher Knight and
Robert Lomas -- both Masons -- write about the Templars' origin and purpose.
According to them, the Templars discovered "a secret" in the ruins of the
temple. This then changed their worldview; and from then on, they adopted
un-Christian teachings. Their "protection for pilgrims" became a front
behind which they hid their real intent and activities.

There is no evidence that these founding
Templars ever gave protection to pilgrims, but on the other hand, we were
soon to find that there is conclusive proof that they did conduct
extensive excavations under the ruins of Herod's Temple [as Solomon's
temple was called after Herod rebuilt it]. [11]

The authors of The Hiram Key are not the
only researchers finding evidence for this. Writes the French historian, Gaetan Delaforge:

The real task of the nine knights was to
carry out research in the area, in order to obtain certain relics and
manuscripts which contain the essence of the secret traditions of Judaism
and ancient Egypt ... [12]

In The Hiram Key, Knight and
Lomas conclude that the Templars excavated items of such importance at the
site that they adopted a wholly new world view. Many other historians draw
similar conclusions. The order's founders and their successors were all of
Christian upbringing, yet their philosophy of life was not a Christian
one.

Some
seals and maps from the era of the crusades: From left to right: A
sketch showing the centers of religious importance in Jerusalem;
Seal of Frederick III; another map of Jerusalem; front and back of
the crusader king Baldwin's seal; front and back of the Cesaree
Archbishop's seal.

At the end of the 19th century, Charles Wilson of the
Royal Engineers, began conducting archeological research in Jerusalem. He
concluded that the Templars had gone to Jerusalem to study the temple's
ruins and, from the evidence Wilson obtained there, that the Templars had
set themselves up in the vicinity of the temple to facilitate excavation
and research. The tools that the Templars left behind form part of the
evidence Wilson gathered, and are now in the private collection of the
Scottish Robert Brydon. [13]

According to the authors of The Hiram Key,
the Templars' search was not in vain. They made a discovery that altered
their perception of and outlook on the world entirely. Despite being born
and raised in a Christian society, they adopted wholly un-Christian
practices. Black magic rituals and rites and sermons of perverse content
were common practice. There is a general consensus among historians that
these practices were derived from the Cabala.

Muslims and Christians during one of their
clashes

Map of Palestine showing the crusades

Cabala literally means "oral tradition." An esoteric
branch of mystical Judaism, the Cabala is also a school that researches
the secret, hidden meanings of the Torah (or first five Books of
Moses) and other Jewish writings. There's more to it, however. A close
examination of the Cabala reveals that it actually precedes the Torah. A
pagan teaching, it continued to exist after the revelation of the Torah
and lived on to spread amongst the followers of Judaism. (For further
reading on the subject, see Harun Yahya's Global Freemasonry, Global
Publishing, 2002)

For thousands of years, the Cabala has been
a resource for sorcery and practitioners of black magic and now enjoys a
strong following all around the world, not only in the Jewish community.
The Templars were one such group, engaged in research into the Cabala with
the goal of acquiring supernatural powers. As the following chapters will
examine in detail, they were keen on establishing ongoing relationships
with Cabalists in Jerusalem as well as in Europe -- a view widely accepted by
researchers working on the subject. [14]

The
Development of the Order

With new members joining their order, the Templars soon
entered a phase of rapid growth. In 1120, Foulgues d'Angers became a
Knight Templar and so did Hugo, Count of Champagne, in 1125. The enigma
surrounding the order and its mystic teachings drew the attention of many
European aristocrats. At the Council of Troyes in 1128, the Papacy
officially recognized the order of the Templars, which further aided their
growth. [15]

A ship carrying the symbols of the Templars

Rome's recognition of the Templars is
related in the Turkish Masonic journal, Mimar Sinan:

To obtain the Papacy's approval of the
order, Grand Master Hugues de Payens, accompanied by five knights, paid a
visit to Pope Honorius II. The Grand Master submitted two letters -- one from
the patriarch of Jerusalem, the other from King Baudoin II -- setting forth
the order's honorable mission, its services to Christianity, and many
another good deed. On the 13th of January, 1128, the Council of Troyes
convened. Present were many high-ranking officials of the Church,
including the Abbot of Citeaux, Etienne Harding, and Bernard, the Abbot of
Clairvaux. The Grand Master presented his case once more. It was agreed
that the Church would officially recognize the order under the name of
Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ. Bernard was commissioned to prepare a Rule
for the Templars. So, the order was officially founded. [16]

In the order's development and progress, the single most
important person is undoubtedly St. Bernard (1090-1153). Becoming the
Abbot of Clairvaux at the tender age of 25, he had risen in the Catholic
Church's hierarchy to become a respectable spokesman for the Church,
influential with the Pope as well as the French King. It must be added
that he was a cousin of Andre de Montbard, one of the founders of the
order. The Templars' Rule was written according to the principles of the
Cistercian Order to which St. Bernard belonged -- or in short, the Templars
adopted the rules and organization of this monastic order. But most of
their rulse never went any further than being written down and recognized:
The Templars continued in their un-Christian practices that the Church had
strictly forbidden.

It's entirely possible that St. Bernard was
duped, and that he never knew the truth about the Templars who, taking
advantage of his trustworthiness and status in the Church and throughout
Christian Europe, used him for their own ends. He wrote a favorable
appraisal of the order, "De Laude Novae Militae" (In Praise of the New
Knighthood) following Grand Master Hugues de Payens's persistent requests
for him to do so. [17] Around that time, St. Bernard
had become the second most influential person in Christendom, after the
Pope.

The famous explorer Vasco de Gama was a
Templar who set sail to discover new ocean trading routes. Above:
Vasco de Gama's ship with the Templars Cross on its sails.

One source illustrates the
importance of Bernard's support of the Templars:

Bernard's document, "De Laude Novae Militae", swept through
Christendom like a tornado, and in no time the number of Templar recruits
increased. At the same time donations, gifts and bequests, from Monarchs
and Barons throughout Europe, were arriving regularly on the Templar
doorstep. With staggering rapidity, the fledgling little band of nine
knights grew into what we refer to as Templar, Inc. [18]

"Shall I tell you
upon whom the satans descend? They descend on every evil liar.
They give them a hearing and most of them are liars." (Qur'an, 26:
221-223)
The Cabala is a mystic synthesis between pagan teachings preceding
the Torah and Judaism. For centuries, the Cabala has been
associated with sorcery and was a source of inspiration for the
Templars' perverse beliefs.

With this document, the Templars obtained unprecedented
privileges not granted to other orders and -- according to Alan Butler and
Stephen Dafoe, known for their research is this field -- became the most
successful military, commercial and financial organization in Medieval
Europe. As their legend and renown spread from mouth to mouth, they became
a multinational company with seemingly unlimited capital and financial
resources and ten of thousands of trained employees.

Recruits, and offers of money and land came
flowing in from far and wide. Soon, numerous presbyteries, castles, farms
and churches, were built and occupied by the Templar Knights and their
servants. The Templars fitted out ships, creating both a merchant and
fighting navy. In time, they became the most famous warriors, travelers,
bankers and financiers of their day. [19]

In short, the Templars were an
autonomous entity answerable only to the Pope, with no obligation to pay
dues to any king, ruler or diocese. Their wealth increased day by day. In
the Holy Lands, the order's power was legendary and continued until the
fall of Acre (1291). They controlled the shipping routes from Europe to
Palestine used by pilgrims, but all these constituted just a fraction of
the Templars' overall activities.

They had entered the scene as "Poor
Fellow-Soldiers of Christ," but no description could have been less
accurate. Amongst their ranks were to be found the wealthiest people of
Europe: leading bankers from London and Paris, among whose customers were
Blanche of Castile, Alphonso de Poitiers, and Robert of Artois. The
finance ministers of James I of Aragon, and Charles I of Naples and the
chief advisor of Louis VII of France were all Templars. [20]

By the year 1147, 700 knights and 2,400
servants of the order were stationed in Jerusalem. Across the known world,
3,468 castles had become the Templars' property. They had established
trading posts and routes on both land and sea, had won war booty and
spoils from the wars they participated in. Among Europe's states, they
were a political power to be reckoned with, often called in to arbitrate
between rulers during times of conflict.

It is estimated that in the 13th century,
the Templars numbered 160,000, of whom 20,000 were knights -- in those times,
constituting an undoubted superpower.

In The Temple and the Lodge, authors Michael
Baigent and Richard Leigh document the Templars' incredibly widespread
influence throughout Christian Europe. They were simply everywhere, even
playing a role in the signing of England's Magna Carta. Having amassed
huge wealth, they were the most powerful bankers of their time and also
the largest fighting force in the West. The Templars commissioned and
financed cathedrals, mediated in international transactions, and even
supplied court chamberlains to the ruling houses of Europe.

The Structure
of the Order

One of the most interesting aspects of the
Templars was their emphasis on discretion. In the two hundred years
between the order's founding and its liquidation, they never compromised
on secrecy. This, however, is inexplicable by any standard of reason,
logic, or common sense. If they were truly devoted to the Catholic Church,
there was no need for this secrecy: All of Europe was under the
sovereignty of the Papacy. If they were merely following Christian
teachings, then they had nothing to hide and there was no need for
secrecy. Why adopt secrecy as a fundamental principle if you are in
compliance with Church doctrine and your mission is to uphold and defend
Christianity -- unless you are engaged in activities incompatible with the
Church?

Discipline was so very strictly observed
within the order's hierarchy that it can only be described as a chain of
command. According to the Templar rule, obedience to the Grand Master and
Masters of the order was paramount:

... if anything be commanded by the Master
or by one to whom he has given his power, it should be done without demur
as if it were a command from God. [21]

Ruins of castles and
fortresses built by the Templars in Europe and Palestine

The Templars were not allowed any personal possessions;
everything remained the property of their order. They also had their own
unique dress code. Over their armor, they wore a long white mantle
emblazoned with a red cross, so that they were recognized as Templars
wherever they went. The Red Cross symbol was assigned to the order by Pope
Eugene III, who, incidentally, had been tutored by St. Bernard.

There were three classes of Templars:
Knights and warriors of various ranks, men of religion, and finally
servants. Other rules specific to the order prohibited marriage,
correspondence with relatives or a private life. [22]
Meals were taken together en masse. As portrayed on their seal -- which
depicted two knights on one single horse -- they were required to go about
their business in pairs, share everything, and eat from the same bowl.
They addressed each other as "my brother," and each Templar had the right
to three horses and one servant. Breach or disrespect of any of these
rules was harshly punished.

Grooming and cleansing were considered an
embarrassment, so Templars rarely washed and went around filthy and
stinking of sweat, from the heat of wearing their armor. But according to
history, the Templars were good seafarers. From the surviving Jews and
Arabs in the Holy Land, they had acquired various maps and learned the
sciences of geometry and mathematics, enabling them to navigate not only
along the shores of Europe and along the African coast, but to explore
lands and seas lying farther away.

Admission to
the Order

Money and medallions issued by
the Templars, who invented the first banking system.

Before one could be considered for admission
into the order, he had to meet a number of preconditions. Among them, a
man had to be in good health, not married or indebted, without any
obligations and not bound by any other order, and willing to accept
becoming a slave and servant of the order.

The initiation ceremony was held in a domed
chamber resembling the Church of The Holy Sepulchre and was to be
conducted in absolute secrecy.23 Just as in
Freemasonry centuries later, esoteric rituals had to be performed during
this ceremony.

In his article titled "Tampliyeler ve
Hurmasonlar" (Templars and Freemasons) mason Teoman Biyikoglu refers to
the order's rule of 1128 about the initiation ceremony:

The Master addresses the congregated
brothers of the order: "Dear brothers, some of you have proposed that Mr.
X may be admitted to the order. If any of you know of any reason to oppose
his initiation, say so now."

If no word of opposition is spoken, the
candidate will be led to the adjoining chamber of the temple. In this
chamber, the candidate is visited by three of the most senior brothers,
told of the difficulties and hardship awaiting him if he is admitted to
the order, and then asked whether he still wishes to be admitted. If his
answer is affirmative, he is asked whether he is married or engaged to be
married, has links to other orders, is indebted to anyone, is of good
health, and whether or not he is a slave.

If his answers to these questions comply
with the requirements of the order, the senior brothers will return to the
temple and say, "We told the candidate of all the hardships awaiting him
and our conditions of admission, but he is insistent on becoming a slave
of the order." Before being readmitted into the temple, the candidate is
again asked whether he still insists on being admitted. If he still
answers yes, the Grand Master addresses the candidate: "Brother, you are
asking much of us. You have seen only the façade of the order, and you
hope to acquire pureblood horses, honorable neighbors, good food and nice
garments. But are you aware of how hard our conditions really are?"
Proceeding to list the difficulties awaiting the candidate, he continues:
"You must not seek admittance for wealth, nor for status."

If the candidate agrees, he is again led out of the
temple. The Grand Master then asks the brothers whether they have anything
to say about the candidate. If there is nothing said against him, he is
brought back, made to kneel down, and given the Bible. He is asked if he
is married. If he answers no, the oldest or most senior in the
congregation is asked, "Have any questions that need to be asked been
forgotten?" If the answer is no, the candidate is asked to swear an oath
that he will remain loyal to the order and his brothers until the day he
dies, and that he will not reveal to the outside world a word that is
spoken in the temple. After he has sworn the oath, the Grand Master kisses
the new brother on the lips [according to another source he is kissed on
the belly and neck]. He then is given a Templar mantle and a woven belt,
which is never to be taken off. [24]

Mystic teachings like the Cabala are not
the only things the Knights Templars borrowed from Judaism. Although
not sanctioned by the true faith, vices like amassing wealth and
usury, practiced by some unobservant Jews have been adopted likewise
by the Templars. In the Qur'an, God speaks of people who amass gold
and silver:

Jewish
religious ornaments

"Christian
Usurers"

According to Alan Butler and Stephen Dafoe,
"The Templars were expert financiers, using trading techniques quite
unknown in the Europe of their day. They had clearly learned many of these
skills from Jewish sources, but would have much more freedom to extend
their financial empire, in a way that any Jewish financier of the period
would have envied greatly." [25]

Even though usury was strictly forbidden,
they weren't afraid to lend money on interest. The Templars had acquired
such wealth -- and the power that came with it -- that nobody dared speak out
against them or do anything about it. [26] This so went
to their heads that they went out of control. They were disobedient to
kings and the Pope and in some cases, even challenged their authority. In
1303, for example, a few years before their order was liquidated, they
refused a request for assistance from the French King Philip IV, as well
as his later request in 1306 for the Templars' order to merge with the
Hospitalers. [27]

Travel could be a hazardous enterprise in
the 12th century. En route, wayfarers could be robbed by bandits anywhere
and at anytime. Transporting money, as well as other precious commodities
essential for trade, was particularly risky. Out of this situation, the
Templars made a fortune by means of a fairly simple system of banking. For
example, if a tradesman wanted to go from London to Paris, first he would
go to the Templars' office in London and hand over his money. In return,
he was given a paper with an encoded message written on it. On his arrival
in Paris, he could hand in this note in exchange for the money he'd paid
in London, minus a fee and interest. Thus the transaction was completed.

Along with traders, wealthy pilgrims too
made use of this system. "Checks" issued by Templars in Europe could be
cashed in on arrival in Palestine, minus a hefty interest charge for this
service. In The Temple and the Lodge, co-authors Michael Baigent and
Richard Leigh explain the Templars' economic dimension, recording that the
beginnings of modern banking can be traced back to them, and that no other
organization contributed as much as the Templars to the rise of
capitalism. [28] History records Florentine bankers as
having invented "checking accounts," yet the Templars were using this
method of money transfer long before. It is generally accepted that
capitalism first arose in the Jewish community of Amsterdam, but long
before them, the Templars had established their own medieval capitalism,
including banking based on interest. They lent money on interest rates of
up to 60% and controlled a major proportion of capital flow and liquidity
in the economy of Europe.

Using methods much like those of a modern
private bank, they derived profits from both trade and banking, as well as
from donations and armed conflict. They became as rich as the
multinational company that, in effect, they were. At one time, the
finances of the English and French monarchies were controlled and run by
the Templars' respective offices in Paris and London, and both the French
and English royal families owed the Templars huge amounts of money. [29]
The kings of Europe were literally at their mercy, hoping to borrow money,
and most royal households had come to depend on the order. This let them
manipulate the kings and their national policies for their own purposes

The Enigma of
the Templars and Gothic Architecture

St.
Bernard, spiritual leader of the Templars

After Innocent II was elected Pope with St.
Bernard's backing, he granted the Templars the right to build and run
their own churches. This was a first in the history of the Church, which
ruled as an absolute power at the time. This privilege meant that from now
on, the Templars were answerable only to the Pope and beyond the reach of
other authorities, including kings and lesser rulers. It also reduced
their responsibilities to the Papacy, letting them hold court, impose
their own taxes and collect them. Thus they could realize their worldly
ambitions free of any pressure from the Church.

In the process of planning their churches,
they developed their own style of architecture, later to be known as
"Gothic." In The Sign and the Seal, Graham Hancock states that Gothic
architecture was born in 1134 with the construction of the north tower of
Chartres Cathedral. The person behind this work of architecture was St.
Bernard, the Templars' mentor and spiritual leader. He felt it important
that this construction symbolize in stone the cabbalistic approach and the
esotericism that the Templars esteemed so highly. As Graham Hancock wrote,
St. Bernard, the patron of the Templars, "played a formative role in the
evolution and dissemination of the Gothic architectural formula in its
early days (he had been at the height of his powers in 1134 when the
soaring north tower of Chartres cathedral had been built, and he had
constantly stressed the principles of sacred geometry that had been put
into practice in that tower and throughout the whole wonderful building.)"

A
medieval engraving showing Jerusalem at the time of the Templars

Elsewhere in the same book, the author writes:

The entire edifice had been carefully and
explicitly designed as a key to the deeper religious mysteries. Thus, for
example, the architects and masons had made use of
gematria (an ancient Hebrew cipher that substitutes numbers for the
letters of the alphabet) to "spell out" obscure liturgical phrases in many
of the key dimensions of the great building. Similarly the sculptors and
glaziers -- working usually to the instructions of the higher clergy -- had
carefully concealed complex messages about human nature, about the past,
and about the prophetic meaning of the Scriptures in the thousands of
different devices and designs that they had created.

Characteristic examples of Gothic architecture
in some of Europe's cities

(For example, a tableau in the north porch
depicts the removal, to some unstated destination, of the Ark of the
Covenant -- which is shown loaded upon an ox-cart. The damaged and eroded
inscription, "HIC AMICITUR ARCHA CEDERIS," could be "Here is hidden
the Ark of the Covenant."

Clearly he had regarded the Templars'
architectural skills as almost supernaturally advanced and had been
particularly impressed by the soaring roofs and arches that they had
built ... Soaring roofs and arches had also been the distinguishing
features of the Gothic architectural formula as expressed at Chartres and
other French cathedrals in the twelfth century -- cathedrals that ... were
regarded by some observers as "scientifically ... far beyond what can be
allowed for in the knowledge of the epoch." [30]

The Battle of
Hattin

Following the death of the Latin King Baldwin I in 1186,
Guy de Lusignan -- who was known to be close to the Templars -- succeeded to the
throne in Palestine. Reynald de Chatillon, Prince of Antioch, became the
new king's closest aide. After fighting in the Second Crusade, Reynald had
stayed behind in Palestine, where he became good friends with the Templars.

Gold and silver swords
belonging to Templars

Reynald's cruelty was well known in the Holy Land. On the 4th of July,
1187 the crusader armies fought their bloodiest battle at Hattin. The army
numbered 20,000 infantry and a thousand mounted knights. Assembling this
army stretched to the limit the resources of towns along the border,
leaving the others unprotected and vulnerable. The battle ended with the
virtual annihilation of the crusaders. Most lost their lives, and every
survivor was captured. Among the prisoners of war were King Guy himself
and the leading commanders of the Christian army

Drawing depicting the Templars' defeat at the
Battle of Hattin

According to the Templars' own records,
Saladin, the great commander of the Muslim forces, was fair. Despite all
the cruelty inflicted on Palestine's Muslim population over the previous
100 years of Christian rule, the defeated forces were not ill-treated.
While most Christians were pardoned, the Templars had been responsible for
the savage attacks carried out on the Muslim population, and for this
reason, Saladin had the Templars executed, along with the Grand Master of
the order and Reynald de Chatillon, both known for their inhumane cruelty.
King Guy was freed after only one year in captivity in the town of Nablus.

After Saladin's victory at Hattin, he advanced with his
army and proceeded to free Jerusalem. Despite serious losses, the Templars
survived their defeat in Palestine and along with other Christians,
withdrew to Europe. Most headed for France where, thanks to their
privileged status, they continued to increase their power and wealth. In
time, they became the "state within the state" in many European countries.

Acre, the crusaders' last stronghold in
Palestine, was captured by the Muslim army in 1291. With this, the
original justification for the Templars' existence -- the protection of
pilgrims in the Holy Land -- disappeared as well.

Now the Templars could concentrate all their
efforts on Europe, but needed a little time to adapt to this new
situation. During this transitional period, they relied on the help of
their friends in the royal houses of Europe, of whom the best-known was
Richard the Lion-Hearted. His relationship with the Templars was such that
he was regarded as an Honorary Knight Templar. [31]

Furthermore, Richard had sold to the
Templars the Island of Cyprus, which was to become the temporary base of
their order, while they strengthened their position in Europe to
counteract their losses in Palestine.

Cyprus: A
Temporary Base

In order to understand the links between
Cyprus and the order, we need to examine the events that culminated in the
3rd Crusade. By July 4, 1187, Jerusalem was conquered. Guy de Lusignan was
taken prisoner the same day to be freed a year later, after swearing an
oath never to attack the Muslims again.

Germany, France, and England made the joint
decision to launch the 3rd Crusade in order to retake Jerusalem. But
before proceeding to attack the Holy City, they considered it essential
for their success to first capture a harbor, where they could land troops
and supplies. Acre was selected; and King Philip of France and England's
King Richard began their sea journey

After King Richard's naval forces took
Cyprus, Templar Master Robert de Sable entered the scene with a proposal
to purchase Cyprus from Richard the Lion-Hearted. A price was fixed at
100,000 bezants (then gold currency of Byzantium), and de Sable made a
down payment of 40,000 bezants. This sum, available so soon after the
defeat at Hattin, is enough to illustrate the order's financial strength.

In 1291, Acre fell to the Muslim army. As
the Christian presence in Palestine came to an end, the Templars moved on.
Some settled in Cyprus, later to serve as their temporary base in the
Mediterranean. The Templars had been hoping to acquire a kingdom, such as
the Teutonic Knights had won for themselves in northern Europe, except
they wanted theirs in center of Europe -- preferably in France.

In Europe, under the guidance of their
Master based in France, the rest of the Templars carried on their usual
activities, with an unequalled degree of freedom. The Grand Master enjoyed
a status on a par with kings; the Templars owned land in most countries of
Christendom, from Denmark to Italy. A massive warrior army formed the
basis of their political power. Because all the ruling houses of Europe
were indebted to the Templars, they feared that their future was
threatened.

The throne of England was seriously indebted
to the order. King John had emptied the coffers of the treasury between
1260 and 1266 in order to finance his military operations; and Henry III,
likewise, borrowed heavily from the Knights Templar. [32]

The situation in France was such that the Templars
offices in Paris housed their own treasury as well as the state's and the
treasurer of the order was also the treasurer of the King. The Royal
household's finances were thus under the control of the Templars and
dependent on them. [33]

Decadence and
Its Unmasking

After Christian presence in the Holy Land
ended on June 16th, 1291, the Templars returned to Europe. Even though
their original purpose -- protecting European pilgrims -- had ceased to exist,
they kept on strengthening their power base, increasing their number of
soldiers and amassing ever greater fortunes. But from this date onward,
events began to turn against the Templars.

While their numbers and their wealth were on
the rise, their greed, arrogance and tyranny increased accordingly. By
now, the Knights Templar had grown apart from the Catholic Church's
teachings, beliefs, and practices. In general, no longer did any European
have anything to say in their favor. In France, expressions like "to drink
like a Templar" were common and widespread. In Germany, "Tempelhaus" meant
whorehouse, and if anyone acted in an unacceptably arrogant way, he was
said "to be proud as a Templar." [34]

THE BARBARITY OF RICHARD
THE LION-HEARTED

Richard
the Lion-Hearted had a close relationship with the Templars. Despite
his glorious title of "Lionheart," he was a cruel and merciless
ruler.

When he
and his crusader army reached Palestine, they came to Acre, which
had then been besieged for two years by the last remaining Christian
army in Palestine. Facing the crusaders was Saladin's army which,
despite many attempts, hadn't managed to break the siege and relieve
the 3,000 Muslims inside the Acre castle. With the arrival of
Richard the Lion-Hearted, Acre's already weakened resistance was
weakened further. In the end, on July 12th, 1192, Acre fell. This
was the crusaders' first victory after their defeat at the Battle of
Hattin.

3,000
Muslims lived in the town, more than half of them women and
children. Richard demanded a huge sum as ransom for the lives of his
3,000 captives. Saladin agreed, but could not raise the requested
sum at once, so installments were agreed upon. Some had already been
paid when one was delayed. On August 20th Richard, who had grown
tired of sitting and waiting, decided to slaughter all 3,000 Muslim
prisoners. His soldiers placed the block on the front walls of the
castle and, one by one, beheaded all of the 3,000. It took them
three whole days. On the right, this act of barbarism is depicted
from a Christian perspective.

The kingdoms of Europe, especially France, were angered by the Templars'
political intrigues and shadowy designs. After having plenty of
opportunity to get acquainted with them, people started to realize that
their order was not comprised of genuinely religious knights. Finally in
1307, Philip the Fair, King of France, and Pope Clement V realized that
the Templars were seeking to change not only Europe's religious landscape,
but its political balance as well. In October 1307, they moved in on the
Templars, with the view of liquidating this decadent, treacherous order. [35]

The Templars'
True Face

Modest missionaries, fighting for
Christianity -- this was how the Templars presented themselves to the
ordinary people. Undeservedly, they were perceived to be saints of great
virtue, mentors of Christianity, devoted to aiding the poor and the needy.
It's amazing that they managed to create such a positive image while
leading lives contrary to Christian teachings and, on the way acquiring
status and wealth through donations, trade, banking and even looting. The
few who discovered their true identity did not dare to speak out against
this powerful order. Philip, King of France, feared the dangers their
financial strength could create for him.

It was
high time to unmask the Templars. As a Masonic writer of the 18th century
explains:

The war, which for the greater number of
warriors of good faith proved the source of weariness, of losses and
misfortunes, became for them [the Templars] only the opportunity for booty
and aggrandizement, and if they distinguished themselves by a few
brilliant actions, their motive soon ceased to be a matter of doubt when
they were seen to enrich themselves even with the spoils of the
confederates, to increase their credit by the extent of the new
possessions they had acquired, to carry arrogance to the point of
rivaling crowned princes in pomp and grandeur, to refuse their aid
against the enemies of the faith .. and finally to ally themselves with
that horrible and sanguinary prince named the Old Man of the Mountain
Prince of the Assassins. [36]

The Templars became increasingly confident
and impertinent in their practices and in disseminating their teachings,
trusting in the unjustifiably positive image they had managed to create
throughout society. This in turn led to an increase in the numbers who
witnessed their perversion and began to whisper about it.

Whatever might the Templars be doing behind
the closed doors of their palaces? The knights' avarice, inhumanity, greed
and zeal, already well known, awakened the curiosity of the locals, the
clergy, and the monarchy. The Papacy was almost certain that this group,
which it could no longer control, was living an irreligious life and
abusing the privileges it had granted them.

Rumors and complaints circulated about the
Templars. There were increasingly credible accusations that they engaged
in forbidden practices and other wrongdoing and that was why they operated
under strict secrecy. People had begun to whisper of secret rites
performed in their palaces, rituals of Satanist worship, and various
immoral relationships.

All these rumors were combined with actual
fact -- what servants in Templar palaces and the people living in the
vicinity of them witnessed and reported. The Papacy found itself in a
predicament, not knowing what to do. Clement V, elected Pope in 1305, was
trying to calculate the damage to Christianity -- and therefore, to the
Vatican -- and how to minimize its effects. At the same time, he had to put
an end to constant pressure from regional dioceses and the King of France.
Meanwhile, in Cyprus, Jacques de Molay, leader of the Templars, was making
preparations for war, as the order had not given up hope to go back in the
Middle East. He was recalled to France and ordered by the Pope to
investigate these allegations.

All this, however, was unacceptable to the
French King. He quickly passed a new law, under which he had the Templars
arrested. On October 13, 1309, they were accused in the courts with the
following charges:

1. That during the reception
ceremony, new brothers were required to deny Christ, God, The Virgin or
the Saints on the command of those receiving them.

2. That the brothers committed
various sacrilegious acts either on the cross or on an image of Christ.

3. That the receptors practiced
obscene kisses on new entrants, on the mouth, navel or buttocks.

4. That the priests of the Order did
not consecrate the host, and that the brothers did not believe in the
sacraments.

5. That the brothers practiced idol
worship of a cat or a head.

6. That the brothers encouraged and
permitted the practice of sodomy.

7. That the Grand Master, or other
officials, absolved fellow Templars from their sins.

8. That the Templars held their
reception ceremonies and chapter meetings in secret and at night.

9. That the Templars abused the
duties of charity and hospitality and used illegal means to acquire
property and increase their wealth. [37]

Perversion in
the Templars' Faith and Practice

The documents at hand, together with the allegation made
against the Templars, demonstrated that this was no ordinary order of
knights. It was a darker organization altogether: one of perverted faith,
frightening methods, and cunning strategies. It was well organized and
well prepared, always scheming, always ready and dangerous, and -- unlike
anything seen before -- forward thinking, with comprehensive plans for the
future.

The Templars worshipped the
idol Baphomet, thought to symbolize Satan.

During their time in the Middle East, the
Templars had established and maintained contact with mystic sects
belonging to different religions and denominations, including sorcerers.
They were known to have close links to the hashashins (assassins) who,
while influential, were regarded as a perverted sect by the Muslim
population. From them, the Templars had learned some mystic teachings and
barbaric strategies, as well as how to organize a sect. As will be seen in
the coming chapters, the order's higher echelons in particular had also
acquainted themselves with -- and incorporated into their practice -- beliefs
based on the mystic teachings of the Cabala, the influence of the Bogomils,
and Luciferians, thus leaving Christianity behind. According to the
Templars, Jesus was a god ruling in another world, with little or no power
in our present one. Satan was the lord of this material world of ours.

Now the rumors were confirmed: Candidates
for the order were indeed required to deny God, Christ and the Saints,
committed sacrilegious acts, spit and urinate onto the holy Cross, be
kissed square on the mouth with the "Oscolum Infame" or "The Kiss of
Shame" on the navel and buttocks by the more senior Knights Templars,
during the initiation ceremony. That they freely practiced homosexuality
and other sexual perversions, that the Grand Master wielded total
authority over everything, that they practiced rituals of sorcery and used
Cabalistic symbolism was clear evidence that the order had had become a
sect blasphemous to Christianity. Their questioning revealed yet another
of their unorthodox practices: Without being specific, they had admitted
to idolatry, but during their ongoing interrogation, it gradually emerged
that without any doubt, they were worshipping Satan. The Templars revered
an idol of Baphomet; a demon with the head of a goat, whose image was
later to become the symbol of The Church of Satan. From Peter Underwood's
Dictionary of the Occult and Supernatural:

Baphomet was the deity worshipped by the
Knights Templar, and in Black Magic was the source and creator of evil;
the Satanic goat of the witches' Sabbath ... [38]

During their trial, almost all
Templars mentioned having worshipped Baphomet. This idol they described as
having a scary human head, a long beard and frightening, shining eyes.
They also mentioned human skulls and idols of cats. The consensus among
historians is that all these figures are objects of Satanic worship. The
demon Baphomet has ever since been an object of Satanic veneration.
Details about Baphomet were later conveyed by Eliphas Levi; a 19th-century
Cabalist and occultist, whose drawings illustrate Baphomet as having a
goat's head with two faces, and a winged human body that is female above
the waist and whose lower half is male.

Among the European monarchs indebted to the Templars was the
England's King Henry

A
historic document describing the abolition of the Knights Templar s

Most Templars confessed that they didn't believe in
Jesus because they held him to be "a false prophet"; that they had
committed acts of homosexuality during the admission ceremony as well as
afterwards, that they worshipped idols and practiced Satanism. All these
admissions entered the court records, and following their trial, most of
the Templars were imprisoned.

Much has been said about the Templars'
homosexual practices, and it has been suggested that their insignia -- of two
riders on the back of one horse -- represented this custom. In his novel
Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco extensively touches upon this aspect of
the Templars. [39]

After their confessions in the courts of the
French King, the Pope himself interrogated 72 of the Templars. They were
asked to swear an oath to tell the truth and then, proceed to confirm that
their previous confessions were truthful: that they
rejected belief in Jesus, that they spat on the holy cross and committed
all the other acts of perversion they'd admitted to. They then knelt down
and asked for forgiveness.

The
Templars' confessions made references to perverted sexual practices.
Homosexuality was rife between the Knights.

It is said
that the Templars' official seal symbolizes this kind of relationship.

The interrogation of the Templars culminated
in the dissolution of their order. In 1314, Grand Master Jacques de Molay
was burned at the stake. Templars who had managed to escape arrest by
fleeing to other countries were pursued throughout the whole of
Christendom. Other countries including Italy and Germany followed suit,
arresting and interrogating the Templars they could apprehend. But for
various reasons, some countries offered the Templars refuge. On November
10, 1307, England's Edward II wrote the Pope that he would not persecute
the Templars and that in his country, they would remain safe. But two
years later, after interrogating the Templars, the Pope issued a Papal
Bull declaring that the Templars' "unspeakable wickednesses and abominable
crimes of notorious heresy" had now "come to the knowledge of almost
everyone." Upon reading it, King Edward agreed to prosecute the Templars.

Finally, at the Council of Vienne in France
in 1312, the Order of the Knights Templar was officially declared illegal
in all of Europe, and captured Templars were punished. On March 22nd,
Clement V issued a Papal Bull under the name of Vox in Excelso (A Voice
from on High), in which the order was declared to be dissolved and -- on
paper, at least -- its existence erased from the official records:

... Hark, a voice of the people from the
city! a voice from the temple! the voice of the Lord rendering recompense
to his enemies. The prophet is compelled to exclaim: Give them, Lord, a
barren womb and dry breasts. Their worthlessness has been revealed because
of their malice. Throw them out of your house, and let their roots dry up;
let them not bear fruit, and let not this house be any more a stumbling
block of bitterness or a thorn to hurt.

... Indeed a little while ago, about the
time of our election as supreme pontiff before we came to Lyons for our
coronation, and afterwards, both there and elsewhere, we received secret
intimations against the master, preceptors and other brothers of the order
of Knights Templar of Jerusalem and also against the order itself.

... [T]he holy Roman church honoured these
brothers and the order with her special support, armed them with the sign
of the cross against Christ's enemies, paid them the highest tributes of
her respect, and strengthened them with various exemptions and privileges;
and they experienced in many and various ways her help and that of all
faithful Christians with repeated gifts of property. Therefore it was
against the lord Jesus Christ himself that they fell into the sin of
impious apostasy, the abominable vice of idolatry, the deadly crime of the
Sodomites, and various heresies. [40]

The Templars
Go Underground

Liquidating the order of the Templars proved harder than
anticipated. Even though Grand Master de Molay and many of his brothers
had been eliminated, the order survived, albeit by going underground. In
France alone, there were more than 9,000 representatives to be found and
across the countries of Europe, thousands of castles and other strongholds
were still in their possession. According to historical sources of the
time, the Inquisition had captured and punished only 620 out of a total of
2,000 knights. It has since been estimated that the knights' actual grand
total was in the vicinity of 20,000, each of whom had a team of seven or
eight Templars of other professions at his service. A simple calculation
based on eight Templars per knight gives us a total number of 160,000
organizing and carrying out the order's activities, including shipping and
commerce. The Pope and the French King couldn't possibly locate and
confiscate all of their property. This network of active members across
Europe and along the Mediterranean coast, 160,000 strong, was the largest
logistical force of their time. In terms of property, they could measure
up to any king and this wealth assured their protection and safety.
Despite the Papacy's claim that the Templars had been annihilated, not
only did they survive the Inquisition by going underground, but they kept
on being active, especially in England and in Northern Europe:

The
Templars' world view and philosophy were greatly influenced by the
Jewish mystic teachings of the Cabala. Above, a medieval Cabalic
text.

A piece of 16th-century
Cabalist writing

[I]n the years following the loss of the Holy Land, the Templars had
shown a continuing desire to create a 'state' of their own ... [W]e are
now left in no doubt that the Templars indeed manage, against all odds, to
carve out their own nation. It wasn't some Eldorado in the New World, nor
a hidden kingdom of the Prester John variety in darkest Africa. In fact
the Templars remained absolutely central to everything that was happening
in Europe, and what is more they were partly instrumental in the formation
of the Western World as we know it today. The Templar State was, and is,
Switzerland. [41]

King
Philippe of France, who ordered the arrest of the Templars

In order to carry on their activities in
safety, Templars escaping persecution and arrest in France and some other
countries of Europe needed to regroup somewhere. They chose the
confederation of cantons now known as Switzerland. The Templars' influence
in Switzerland's formation and traditional makeup can still be easily
recognized today. Alan Butler, a Mason and co-author of The Warriors and
the Bankers is an expert on the subject of Templars. In a discussion forum
held in 1999, he said:

There are a few important reasons why this
[that the Knights Templar went to Switzerland after their liquidation] is
likely to have been the case. For example:

1. The founding of the embryonic Switzerland
conforms exactly to the period when the Templars were being persecuted in
France.

2. Switzerland is just to the east of France
and would have been particularly easy for fleeing Templar brothers from
the whole region of France to get to.

3. In the history of the first Swiss
Cantons, there are tales of white-coated knights mysteriously appearing
and helping the locals to gain their independence against foreign
domination.

4. The Templars were big in banking, farming
and engineering (of an early type). These same aspects can be seen as
inimical to the commencement and gradual evolution of the separate states
that would eventually be Switzerland.

5. The famous Templar Cross is incorporated
into the flags of many of the Swiss Cantons. As are other emblems, such as
keys and lambs, that were particularly important to the Knights Templar. [42]

A significant number of Templars found
refuge in Scotland, the only monarchy in 14th century Europe that didn't
recognize the authority of the Catholic Church. Reorganizing under the
protection of King Robert the Bruce, they soon found the perfect
camouflage to hide their existence in the British Isles. Outside of the
state and local governments, the Masons' Lodges were the most powerful
organizations of the time, and and the Templars first infiltrated them,
then brought them under control. Lodges that had been professional bodies
were turned into ideological and political organizations, which are now
the Freemason Lodges of today. (This is what Masons call "progress from
operational to speculative Masonry")

Another Masonic source estimates that
between 30,000 and 40,000 Templars escaped the Inquisition by wearing
Masons' cloth and mingling with them. So as to flee abroad, others
obtained and used the "Laissez passer" (free passage) given to Masons.

Some Templars escaped to Spain and entered
orders like the Caltrava, Alcantra, and Santiago del Espada, while others
moved on to Portugal and they renamed themselves the Order of Christ.
Still others fled to the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation and joined
the Teuton knights, while another large group of Templars is known to have
joined the Hospitalers. In England, the Templars were arrested and
interrogated, but quickly released again. In still other countries, the
Templars remained unmolested.

The Templars seemed to have disappeared from history until 1804, when
Bernard-Raymond Fabré Palaprat became Grand Master. Truly interesting is
an accidental discovery he made in 1814 ... In one of the bookstalls along
the river Seine in Paris, he came upon a handwritten Bible of the Yuhanna
translation in the Greek language. The Bible's last two chapters were
missing; and in their place were notes divided by -- and containing- -- umerous
triangles. Examining these notes a bit closer, he realized that this was a
document listing the Grand Masters of the Templars, beginning with the
fifth Grand Master, Bertrand de Blanchefort ( 1154), through the 22nd,
Jacques de Molay, the 23rd Larmenius of Jerusalem (1314) and then on to
Grand Master Claudio Mateo Radix de Chevillon (1792). This document
suggested that Jacques de Molay passed the title of Grand Master on to
Larmenius of Jerusalem. It could be concluded that the Templars never
ceased to exist. They live on today in the lodges of Freemasonry.

In Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco writes:

After Beaujeu, the order has never ceased to
exist, not for a moment, and after Aumont we find an uninterrupted
sequence of Grand Masters of the Order down to our own time, and if the
name and seat of the true Grand Master and the true Seneschals who rule
the Order and guide its sublime labors remain a mystery today, an
impenetrable secret known only to the truly enlightened, it is because the
hour of the Order has not struck and the time is not ripe ... [43]

Many sources suggest that after the death of
Jacques de Molay, survivors of the order planned a conspiracy. Supposedly,
the Templars sought to bring down not only the Papacy, but the kingdoms
that had declared them illegal and executed their Grand Master. This
secret mission was handed down through generations of members, preserved
and maintained by later organizations like the Illuminati and Freemasons.
It's widely accepted that the Masons played a major role in the downfall
of the French monarchy and the ensuing Revolution. When Louis XVI was
guillotined in a public square in Paris, one of the onlookers shouted,
"Jacques de Molay, you have been avenged!"

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